


This Great Leap Forward

by quicksparrows



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-23 08:25:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13186197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quicksparrows/pseuds/quicksparrows
Summary: They've been together for an hour and they've achieved a synchronicity Rey hadn't imagined possible.A slightly AU first kiss. Spoilers.





	This Great Leap Forward

**Author's Note:**

> (Spoilers, obviously.)
> 
> This one's a little bit more indulgent, but ah, well. I had a thought of what it could have been like if they didn't have the immediate conflict over going to save the Resistance, what the story might be like if Kylo Ren and Rey take down the First Order from the inside and then came to a parting of the ways _after_ , when the time comes to go after the Resistance. Realistically I don't have time to write anything long-form, and I'd like to see where the story goes in canon first. You know... two years from now. I dunno.
> 
> Either way, I sort of imagined this big sweeping "first kiss" moment as an alternative.

.

 

"We have to go!" Rey calls.

But Kylo has stopped. He's staring at the empty throne, at Snoke's body cast, segmented, across the cold floor. His expression is unreadable. She pauses where she is, chest still heaving. There's no time to stop, not when the million residents and employees of the _Supremacy_ will soon feel the void that their Supreme Leader's death has left. They have to move. They have to keep going. If they can seize full control––

"Ben," she says, urgently. "Let's go."

He looks at her. His eyes are wide, and she reads fear in his eyes, a deep and dark sense of what he has just accomplished, not just for the Resistance and her, but also for himself. In some way, he has found his freedom, hasn't he? He can do whatever he wants now. For a moment, she feels fear, too. 

"We have to go," she says. "If you're having doubts, I believe you'll find your way later, but right now––"

"I'll do it," he says. "But we do it together."

Rey pauses. Her heart is pounding.

"Together?" she utters.

"You stay by my side," he says. "No matter what."

Rey feels her own confusion alight on her face, and he must see it, too, because his brow furrows. He's remarkably calm, but she sees that little waver to his shoulders, the adrenaline of battle coursing through him. They just killed the guard. He killed Snoke. They've been together for an hour and they've achieved a synchronicity Rey hadn't imagined possible.

"Why wouldn't we?" she says, finally.

He lets out a long exhale. Relief, and then passion.

"Together," he says, a little loud, as if the world should know. This room of bodies is quiet save them, and what sounds like a distant alarm. He watches her. _Looming._ "Just like I saw."

"That's what I saw, too," she says.

And he strides towards her, long legs carrying him across the rubbled tile with alarming speed. When he reaches her, he puts his hands out to hold her, to take her face between his hands. There's something about the way he moves, raw and motivated. That's the first time he moves in to her body like that, and he does it to kiss her.

He closes his eyes and kisses her, his mouth warm against hers. She stays still for a heartbeat, and then his hand drifts up her collarbone to settle on her throat, bracing and surprisingly gentle. She searches his face and then closes her eyes, breathing in again sharply.

She's not sure about this great leap forward.

And then, despite it all, she falls into that kiss, one lonely person to another. It is one long, breath-sucking kiss, desperate and needy and soaked with the fading adrenaline of death and lightsaber duels. It threatens to steal her breath away, and then it fades into the most inconstant of kisses, small ones peppered against her lips over and over again, and then her corner of her mouth, and then her cheek. It's as though his initial boldness fades to trepidation, only dubiously appropriate.

Is this appropriate? Is this how she feels? Is this how _he_ feels?

Rey realizes her hand has found its way to the back of his head, raked through his disheveled hair. This is her kiss, too.

If she's being honest, Rey saw it from a parsec away. It's felt imminent for days, through everything they've been through together, and though she's looked upon the end of this line with trepidation, her heart calms now that it's here. She exhales slowly, mere inches from his face, eyes searching his. This is happening. This is really happening. She never would have believed it before.

It scares her a little, but she's never felt so exhilarated.


End file.
